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Meet Yung Blackardi: A Young Indianapolis Hip-Hop Engineer

Indianapolis certainly has started to form more of a reputable culture in terms of Hip-Hop, and Yung Blackardi is a name to know in the community.

Michael Winfrey, known under his moniker as ‘Yung Blackardi‘ is an Indianapolis-based Rapper and recording artist. Blackardi has been working, creating and experimenting with sounds since he was 16 years old. Though only 18 years old now, Blackardi has been making waves in his hometown of Indianapolis, and from his perspective, the only to direction to move, is forward. After talking with Blackardi at length, it is easy to see the passion he has for his music and developing himself as a person.

I asked Blackardi about what he has learned most through music, and he responded with this powerful statement. “It’s all about your confidence and that applies to everything in this life. If you have a go-getter mentality then speak your dream into existence and go fucking get it.” These are the kind of words you want to be hearing from a young artist.

With songs like ‘She Want Me‘, ‘Beach‘ and ‘X-Men’, Yung Blackardi shows that he knows his way around a track. All three of these songs specifically showcase Blackardi’s ability to conjure up danceable and groovy hooks, along with infectious lyrics. Yung Blackardi also presents his technical prowess, creativity and overall charisma on the quick and breezy track, ‘Pressure (Freestyle)‘.

Yung Blackardi | Photo By: Jacob Clouse

I asked Yung Blackardi a variety of questions in our interview together, and here is what he had to say:

Max Denari: Alright. To get it started.. Outside of music, who is your biggest motivator/inspiration?

Yung Blackardi: Outside of music my biggest motivator has to be Floyd Mayweather. I would say my parents but I think that’s a given.

MD: In regards to lyrics, who do you draw the most inspiration from?

YB: I draw the most inspiration for my lyrics from Lil Wayne as he is ridiculously smart and his punchlines are always unmatchable.

MD: What piece of work or specific artist inspired you to make music?

YB: Honestly, A$AP Rocky inspired me. I wasn’t gonna rap at all until I first heard of him, saw the type of clothing he wore and the way that people adored him. I wanted that for myself.

MD: Is there a specific part of your music that you always look to improve on first… before anything else?

YB: I always review the entire song before I finish it, not necessarily any specific part of it. Mainly, if it doesn’t “wow” me then it doesn’t get released.

MD: What is one thing you want people to take away from your music?

YB: I want people to take the real life experience out of the art very seriously. As, I really have gone through my homies being in and out of jail, some of them passing away, heartbreak, etc. Even though I may say something jokingly in one of my songs to grab the listeners attention, nine times out of ten it really happened to me… so learn from it.

MD: Do you see a growing community in regards to music in Indianapolis?

YB: I definitely see a lot of artists nowadays, but do I actually see it going anywhere as of now? No. When we are on a more similar scale to Chicago, where all of our underground rappers have thousands of views, I’ll see growth.

MD: As an artist from Indy, what has been your most difficult experience in regards to music?

YB: My most difficult experience had to be getting blackballed by all the other locals and being forced to just throw my own parties/concerts. I thank them at the same time because they helped me spread my wings.

Yung Blackardi | Photo By: Patrick Brouder

This last January, Yung Blackardi opened for 21 Savage with help from Yung Mozart. This alone shows the validity of Blackardi as a name and a rapper. One can only expect Blackardi to continue with the grind and work ethic he has already shown for so long.

Be sure to check out Yung Blackardi’s SoundCloud and music video for his song ‘Nowadays’ below.

Video courtesy of VC Ball State’s very own Patrick Brouder and Cole Callahan.